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WHO seeks bans on alcohol discounts in anti-abuse. The World Health Organisation on Thursday said it made a „breakthrough“ against alcohol abuse. – The World Health Organisation is calling for discounts on drinks to be banned and for advertising targeting young people to be scrapped as part of a strategy to cut alcohol abuse approved on Thursday.
The strategy drawn up by the UN health agency and approved by its 193-member states at an annual meeting of health ministers also pushes for an end to flat rates for unlimited drinking and for sponsorship to be regulated.
With some 320,000 young people aged 15 to 29 years dying from alcohol-related causes in 2004, the strategy took aim at the marketing of beverages which contributes to getting young people hooked.
„The transmission of alcohol marketing messages across national borders and jurisdictions on channels such as satellite television and the Internet, and sponsorship of sports and cultural events is emerging as a serious concern in some countries,“ it said. (Source: Harvard World Health News, 5/20/10) news.yahoo.com, 5/20/10 our Online-Comment: I am very glad about this WHO-Resolution on an alcohol-strategy. I hope that all countries which have signed it will introduce now effictive measures to follow the advice of this resolution. And I congratulate and thank all those scientists and public health professionals who have done such an extreemly good job. This milestone in public health history should be the beginning of a more worthy life for millions of people now and in the future.

MillerCoors has announced that it will end its sponsor relationship with the National Football League, opening the door for Anheuser-Busch’s Bud Light to become the league’s official beer. Coors Light has been the official beer of the NFL since 2002, but the league and the brewer could not come to an agreement on a price to renew the deal. (Source: Join Together, 5/12/10)

While there has been a multitude of research on the various ways and media of alcohol marketing and their effects on young people, research on alcohol marketing in the cinema has only recently taken off. This fact sheet covers the prevalence, range and effects of alcohol marketing in the cinema as proven in recent studies in the Netherlands and the UK. factsheet-advertising-in-cinemas.pdf

Parent complaints that two United Kingdom television ads featuring children discussing drinking’s negative effects would upset young viewers have failed to block the ads‘ airing, the Guardian reported April 21.
The Advertising Standards Authority has authorized continuation of the ad campaign from the Department for Children, Schools and Families, which is seeking to increase awareness of how alcohol use has a detrimental effect on other decisions made by young people. In the ads, children ages 8 and older talk about having been pressured to use drugs or have sex. (Source: Join Together, 4/26/10)

The state of Virginia’s alcohol regulatory board was within its rights to ban college newspapers from running alcohol-related advertising, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has ruled.
Inside Higher Ed reported April 12 that the court ruled 2-1 to reverse a lower-court decision that had favored the student newspapers at Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia. The newspapers, The Collegiate Times and the Cavalier Daily, had sued the state over the ban, which they said violated the First Amendment and would cost them $30,000 in ad revenues annually. (Source: Join Together, 4/14/10)

A report by the King’s Fund says the government has failed to curb excessive drinking. Soaring obesity levels and rapid rises in the damage caused by alcohol have blighted Labour’s 13-year record on health, according to the most comprehensive assessment of the NHS’s performance during the 13 years since Tony Blair came to power.
A major report by the independent health charity the King’s Fund, obtained by the Observer, paints a depressing picture of a nation afflicted by deteriorating eating and drinking habits, despite a number of public health campaigns.
On the battle against excessive drinking, the King’s Fund is damning. It sees „no sign that the government’s aims to reduce harmful alcohol consumption have been achieved“. Ministers, it points out, took six years from the time they promised an „alcohol harm reduction strategy“ in 1998 to the point where they finally published one. Hospital admissions related to alcohol consumption have increased by 69% between 2002-03 and 2007-08, to 863,000.
Professor Alan Maryon-Davis, president of the UK Faculty of Public Health, which represents 2,500 senior specialist public health doctors, said: „Alcohol-related harm has soared under this government, which has relied too much on voluntary agreements with the industry on things like advertising, labelling and irresponsible promotion. The whole booze culture is a massive problem.“ (Source: Harvard World Health News, 4/15/10) guardian.co.uk, 4/11/10

Eurocare organised succesful event on the Social Cost of Alcohol at the European Parliament.
See here the reports and presentations. (Source: Eurocare Newsletter February/March 2010)

Consuming Kids Summit. Wheelock College, Boston, April 8-10, 2010
The values children learn in the marketplace – excessive consumption, impulsive buying, and unthinking brand loyalty – are antithetical to healthy development, independent thinking, spirituality, community, and democracy. What happens to childhood — and society — when market values trump human values? How can we make a difference? What role can parents, educators, public health professionals, faith communities, and policymakers play in stopping the proliferation of market values, and in nurturing positive values, in a commercialized world? Since 2001 we have been bringing together distinguished scholars, activists, parents, and educators to talk about how marketing undermines children’s health and well-being and what we can do about it. Join CCFC in 2010 for what promises to be our best summit yet! (Source: Marin Institute, 3/30/10) commercialfreechildhood.org, 3/30/10

More than a quarter of youth aged 12-20 (27.6 percent) drank alcohol in the past month, according to a survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The study shows that the underage drinking rates were as high as 40 percent in some states such as North Dakota and Vermont.
In a major effort to combat the epidemic of underage drinking, SAMHSA and the Ad Council today launched a new series of national public service advertisements to encourage parents to talk to their children about drinking alcohol at an early age. The campaign and study are being released in conjunction with Alcohol Awareness Month (April) and as part of the Surgeon General’s „Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking.“ The PSAs are being distributed to media outlets throughout the country and will also be available on line at the campaign’s online fulfillment here. (Source: Medical News Today, 3/26/10)

Ads Enticing Them to Drink. Youth Demand State Ban on Alcohol Ads on Their “School Buses”.
Boston, MA (March 15, 2010) — Demonstrators will gather March 16th, 2010, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Boston Common, across from the State House, to show public support for ending alcohol advertising on state property, including the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), which serves as the public transit system for Greater Boston.
Brought together by the Supporting an Alcohol-Ad Free Environment – Massachusetts coalition (SAFE-MA), youth and community supporters will protest against the MBTA’s use of T trains—which serve as “school buses” for 9,600 Boston youth—to promote alcohol use. By this action, they hope to gain additional support from The Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight, who will decide March 17th, 2010 whether to advance HB 1113: an act prohibiting alcohol advertising on Commonwealth property, introduced by Representative Martin J. Walsh (D – 13th Suffolk). (Source: Marin Institute, 3/15/10)